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Finally, her eyelids fluttered open. I smiled at her hoping that she wasn't going to freak out at my suggestion. "We can go now. We can escape. There's soldiers coming for us. If we leave while everybody's asleep, then we'll be able to make a clean break." I gave her a tentative grin.
"I can't even stand up right now," she groaned as she rolled onto her side to face me. "I definitely don't have the energy to try and escape people that aren't even trying to hurt us."
"That we know of," I countered. When she just slowly blinked at me I hissed, "I can't stay here. Everything in me is screaming to get away. Don't you feel that?"
She shook her head. "All I feel is more tired than I have ever felt as an adult." There was a long pause as we both tried to figure out what to say next. "If you need to go, then go," she said finally, a sad smile tugging at her lips. "But I can't go with you."
"Thorn mentioned my mark. They're coming for me because of it." Anxiety made my throat tighten.
"They always do. They always will," she said, her tone one that I'd heard all too often when she was resigned to something. "I don't have a mark. I don't have to worry. As far as I know, I can wield magic freely here."
"Go! I'll be fine." Wyn waved her hand at me as though she was shooing me away.
"Ronan cares about you," I said, biting my lip as I thought about the man who seemed interested in my friend. "I don't know in what way, but he's been looking out for you, so stick with him."
She nodded and a faint blush stained her cheeks. "We'll find each other again. I'm sure of it," she said with that same sad smile. I didn't want to leave her, but I also didn't know how to keep myself safe otherwise. "Really, I'll be fine," she said. "Go while you can."
I'd never been so torn except for one other time in my life, which was when I had signed up for the military, since I knew that meant I'd be leaving her behind then as well. Finally, my feet started moving on their own, and I found myself at the door, quietly easing it open and slipping out into the hallway before disappearing back downstairs. I paused at the opening into the living room, waiting to make sure there was nobody in there.
When silence was the only thing that greeted me I hurried over to the storage chest and picked out another two loaves of bread to take with me, before changing my mind and only taking one loaf of bread. I didn't have anything to carry it in, so I just held on to it as I went to the front door.
My goal was the small window that the raven had been shoved out of. It was small in comparison to everything else, but I was small too. I may not have been the most elegant thing in the world, but I shoved the loaf of bread in my mouth and used the wood planks that were locking the door to scramble up and push myself out through the window opening.
It was a tight squeeze, there was no denying that, and for a moment my hips caught, and I silently cursed my ass for being so big. Part of me debated going back and getting some butter, greasing myself up like a stuck pig so I could get through more easily, but the idea of having to run around like that was not exactly appealing. Instead, I just shimmied and worked at it until I popped through, and fell painfully on my face, crushing the bread in the mud outside the door.
Ronan had said that there were stables on the other side, so I wound my way around the tree, which could probably take half a day in and of itself. It was time I didn't have, not if I wanted to escape being captured again, so I pushed myself into a run, even though every muscle in my body was protesting.
I hadn't had a good meal in a long time. What we had been eating on the road was certainly better than the nothing Wynand I had received in prison, but it wasn't enough for a warrior's appetite like mine.
There was no choice though, not if I wanted to run, so onward I pushed. A soft whinny was the only thing that alerted me to the fact that I was near the stables.
As I rounded the corner what I found wasn't what I expected. A creature of epic proportions stood there sniffing the air looking for its next meal. The moment it caught my scent was clear as its head snapped in my direction, and I knew everything was over.
I could run, but there was no way I'd make it away from this thing. The only thing I could think of was to try and get to the horse I'd heard, and use that to escape. It had to be close. As soon as I took off, the beast was moving after me. It was a force of nature as ephemeral and violent as the wind with its movements.
"Get down!" A voice roared.
I dropped, unable to resist the commanding tone and raised my arms to cover my head. The beast sailed over my head, landing in a crash before spinning around and turning to face me once more.
Its claws dug into the ground as it launched itself at me. I scrambled to one side, hoping that it wouldn't be able to alter its trajectory and catch me before I could even get to relative safety.
It landed more gracefully this time and slowly turned toward me. An explosion of light erupted from behind the beast as I stared at it, as though I needed some kind of visual cue that my life was over.
The shriek that it let out was enough to curdle the blood, and the distinct smell of burnt flesh permeated the air. Arrows suddenly appeared, sticking out of the thing's haunches, and even though it was probably in pain it still lashed out at me. I stumbled backward, barely avoiding contact as the flash of ablade winked into existence nearby. It was the only thing that let me know that the fight was over as the beasts had dropped to the side, not quite cut off, but certainly deceased.
"What in the goddess's name do you think you're doing?" Thorn's voice reverberated through me as he towered over me and the slain beast.
"Going for a midnight stroll?" I mumbled.
"Try that again." He still sounded like he was barely restraining himself from raining violence down on my head for being so foolish.
I pushed to my feet. "You can't expect me to greet the idea of soldiers coming to take me away because of my mark with joy. Not after what happened the last time."
He scowled down at me. "Let's get those injuries treated. There should be some first aid supplies in the stables."
My mind jarred. Injuries? Had the beast actually connected with me?
I looked down at my body and saw that not only did I have a slash across my arm where I'd raised it to protect myself but I also had a nasty gash across my chest. The moment I saw the wounds the pain erupted through me and I stumbled, almost falling to my knees.
